Security Systems News - ABI Researchhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/taxonomy/term/1783
enReport: More monitoring for mHealth deviceshttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/report-more-monitoring-mhealth-devices
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<div class="field-item even">Perceptions about PERS users are something to overcome</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2016-07-20T00:00:00-04:00">07/20/2016</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Spencer Ives</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>LONDON—The market for monitored mHealth devices is on the rise globally from 2016 to 2021, and North America will be the largest market in the forecast period.</p>
<p>The report examines the number of products shipped to certain geographies. “North America is going to see shipments rise from around 3.5 million in 2016 to nearly 12 million in 2021,” Stephanie Lawrence, research analyst for ABI Research, told <em>Security Systems News</em>.</p>
<p>The report covers several types of mHealth devices, including PERS, mPERS, activity tracking, fall detection and additional home sensors such as medication reminders. Most of these devices would be professionally monitored, with exception of movement-tracking devices, which are typically monitored by family members.</p>
<p>Movement-tracking devices, PERS and mPERS systems are currently popular products, Lawrence said. “PERS devices are going to see shipments rise from around 2.7 million in 2016 to around 6.3 million in 2021,” she said. “MPERS devices are going to see a CAGR from 2016 to 2021 of 45 percent.”</p>
<p>The report covers specific companies, including security companies “such as ADT and how they integrate these PERS systems into other movement-tracking systems, so that they can get more [sorts] of monitoring to help the [users].”</p>
<p>Lawrence said mHealth devices are being used for new demographics. “Originally, they were just for the elderly wanting to age in place, [those who] don’t want to move into care homes,” she said. “Now, they’re also being used for other vulnerable people, such as people with disabilities, people with Alzheimer’s or dementia.”</p>
<p>The market is driven in part by families becoming more dispersed, Lawrence said. In contrast to decades ago, elderly parents frequently do not live close to children or other relatives.</p>
<p>Perceptions about users could be a challenge for the market, Lawrence said. “Elderly people don’t want to feel like every movement of their day is going to be watched,” she said. “Some people don’t want to feel like they’re being branded as ‘old’ and ‘weak.’ They think ‘If I’ve got this device it means I’m weak, I’m not going to have it.’”</p>
<p>PERS companies will likely work on improving the look of PERS devices, Lawrence said, “I think a lot of the [PERS] companies are going to look into making these devices look much nicer, look more like jewelry or watches—something that's nicer for the wearer to show off.”</p>
<p>System costs can also be prohibitive for the market. “The cost is coming down, but it’s still quite high for a lot of people, especially for the more mobile systems,” she said.</p>
<p>Awareness is another potential stumbling block for the mHealth device market, according to Lawrence. “They’re kind of overshadowed by other sorts of wearable technologies, like smart watches and activity trackers.”</p>
<p>Lawrence identified ADT, Phillips, Medical Care Alert and Tunstall Health Care as key monitored mHealth device vendors. </p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="Report: More monitoring for mHealth devices" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Wed, 20 Jul 2016 15:43:39 +0000Spencer Ives19137 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/report-more-monitoring-mhealth-devices#commentsAT&T to buy DIRECTV for $48.5bhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/att-buy-directv-485b
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<div class="field-item even"> Analysts: Deal could result in potential monitoring synergies, bundling opportunities</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2014-05-19T00:00:00-04:00">05/19/2014</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Tess Nacelewicz</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>DALLAS, Texas and EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—AT&amp;T plans to buy satellite television provider DIRECTV for $48.5 billion, the companies announced this week. The deal will allow AT&amp;T to expand its broadband network to more than 70 million customer locations, the companies said.</p>
<p>Both companies have home security/home automation offerings—AT&amp;T has Digital Life and DIRECTV bought LifeShield Security last year. And according to Tom Kerber, director of research, home control and energy for Parks Associates, a Dallas-based market research firm, the acquisition of DIRECTV “just makes AT&amp;T that much more of a powerful competitor” when it comes to the connected home.</p>
<p>That’s because, Kerber explained to <em>Security Systems News</em>, “the DIRECTV acquisition definitely expands the bundle of services that AT&amp;T can offer consumers.”</p>
<p>He also believe the deal could allow the companies to take advantage of monitoring synergies—AT&amp;T has two monitoring centers for Digital Life; LifeShield relies on third-party monitoring—and perhaps complementary sales strategies.</p>
<p>It’s not clear what AT&amp;T and DIRECTV have planned for the home security/home automation part of their businesses as a result of the deal—which still must be approved by federal regulators.</p>
<p>In fact, Jonathan Collins, principal analyst with ABI Research, a New York-based technology market intelligence company, told SSN, “I just don’t think the smart home is one of the primary drivers of this deal. It may have a positive effect on both AT&amp;T and Digital Life but I don’t think that greatly factored into the move.”</p>
<p>AT&amp;T and DIRECTV make no mention of Digital Life and LifeShield in a lengthy May 18 news release on the planned sale. In a prepared statement, AT&amp;T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson, describes the deal as “a unique opportunity that will redefine the video entertainment industry and create a company able to offer new bundles and deliver content to consumers across multiple screens – mobile devices, TVs, laptops, cars and even airplanes.”</p>
<p>When asked how the sale might impact security/home automation offerings, a source close to AT&amp;T told SSN that it's premature to comment on what might happen with Digital Life or LifeShield at this point, but that AT&amp;T and DIRECTV plan to continue operating as usual until the deal is finalized.</p>
<p>LifeShield referred a request for comment to DIRECTV, which had not responded by SSN’s deadline.</p>
<p>Still, Kerber and Collins say the deal carries potential benefits when it comes to the companies’ smart home and security services.</p>
<p>AT&amp;T in April announced that Digital Life, its professionally monitored and professionally installed service, was <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/att-digital-life-expands-75-markets-its-first-year" target="_blank">thriving</a> in 75 markets nationwide after trialing the service in 2012 in Dallas and Atlanta and then launching it in 15 markets one year ago. As of the end of this week, Digital Life will be offered in a total of 81 markets throughout the nation, debuting May 23 in six additional new markets ranging from Florida to California, AT&amp;T spokeswoman Kuriko Wong told SSN.</p>
<p>And DIRECTV got into security last year with the <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/directv-gets-security-acquires-lifeshield" target="_blank">purchase of LifeShield</a>, a self-installed, professionally monitored, wireless digital security system.</p>
<p>Collins believes Digital Life is the stronger product of the two. He noted that DIRECTV only got into the security/smart home market in 2013 with the LifeShield buy. “That’s clearly an area they looked at and saw potential in, but maybe hadn’t gotten as far down the road as many of their [telecom and cableco] competitors,” he said. “… I would imagine AT&amp;T Digital Life would take preference when it comes to promoting to new customers.”</p>
<p>In the deal, AT&amp;T would gain 20 million new customers, according to news reports.</p>
<p>Kerber believes there will be bundling opportunities for AT&amp;T in the deal. He pointed to a survey that Parks Associates did earlier this year showing how cablecos and telecoms are using that feature to their advantage. The survey showed that “23 percent of professionally monitored security systems acquired in the last 12 months were bundled with broadband TV, mobile or phone service.”</p>
<p>“So basically,” Kerber continued, “it’s the cable or telecom industry bundling security with their core services. … They’re essentially gaining some pretty good share of the new [security] systems; they’re not necessarily taking share from existing accounts but in the [new] growth, they’re taking a good bit.”</p>
<p>The AT&amp;T-DIRECTV deal, he said, “helps AT&amp;T compete more for its core business and for the security business, because of the attractiveness of the overall bundle.”</p>
<p>Both Kerber and Collins said the deal could result in monitoring synergies.</p>
<p>AT&amp;T has two monitoring centers, one in Dallas and one in Atlanta, for which it <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/att-earns-csaa-five-diamond-certification" target="_blank">received Five Diamond certification</a> from the Central Station Alarm Association last year.</p>
<p>LifeShield and Protection 1 in 2012 announced a partnership in which Pro 1 became LifeShield’s monitoring provider.</p>
<p>“I guess there are savings that could be realized from [LifeShield] using the AT&amp;T monitoring centers,” Collins said.</p>
<p>The AT&amp;T-DIRECTV deal will be a stock-and-cash transaction for $95 per share based on AT&amp;T’s May 16 closing price, according to the companies’ news release. The agreement has been approved unanimously by the boards of directors of both companies, but is subject to regulatory approval by the federal government.</p>
<p>“This purchase price implies a total equity value of $48.5 billion and a total transaction value of $67.1 billion, including DIRECTV’s net debt,” the release said.</p>
<p>The release also said the two companies would combine “complementary strengths to create a unique new competitor with unprecedented capabilities in mobility, video and broadband services.”</p>
<p>AT&amp;T is a Texas-based telecom with a nationwide mobile network and a high-speed broadband network. California-based DIRECTV bills itself as the premier pay TV provider in the United States and Latin America and contends it has the “best technology for delivering and viewing high-quality video on any device … among major U.S. cable and satellite TV providers.”</p>
<p>AT&amp;T’s “broadband network … will cover 70 million customer locations with the broadband expansion enabled by this transaction,” the release said. And because satellite TV can reach rural areas, AT&amp;T’s geographic reach will grow, according to news reports.</p>
<p>News reports suggest that the AT&amp;T-DIRECTV deal was spurred by Comcast’s plan, announced earlier this year, to buy Time Warner Cable for $45 billion. Both of those companies also have home security/home automation offerings. AT&amp;T has denied that the Comcast-Time Warner deal, which also has yet to be approved by federal regulators, played a role in its DIRECTV plan.</p>
<p>But, according to <a href="http://www.seekingalpha.com" target="_blank">Seeking Alpha</a>, the deals have a similar aim. “The core purpose remains the same: to build the necessary scale to compete effectively in this capital-intensive business. … AT&amp;T and DirecTV would control about 25 percent of the U.S. pay-television market if regulators approve the deal, while the combination of Comcast and Time Warner Cable would boast a market share of about 33 percent.”</p>
<p>Among features of the AT&amp;T-DIRECTV deal, according to the news release, is that it will allow “the combined company to offer consumers bundles that include video, high-speed broadband and mobile services using all of its sales channels—AT&amp;T’s 2,300 retail stores and thousands of authorized dealers and agents of both companies nationwide.”</p>
<p>AT&amp;T’s strategy of selling home security in its retail stores has been key to the rapid growth of Digital Life, AT&amp;T Digital Life President Kevin Petersen <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/att-digital-life-expands-75-markets-its-first-year" target="_blank">recently told SSN</a>.</p>
<p>However, Kerber said adding more diversity to its sales strategy could be a boon to Digital Life. It's not clear what selling methods LifeShield uses but “to the degree this [deal] can help [AT&amp;T] expand the sales channel beyond that retail, that would be good as well,” he said.</p>
<p>Should professional security companies be worried about the AT&amp;T-DIRECTV deal?</p>
<p>Kerber said smaller dealers still retain their local service advantage over the giant telecom. “Obviously the security dealer competes on that personalized service and individual attention … and for people who value those services that’s going to be a differentiator for dealers for a long time, I think,” he said.</p>
<p>Collins said he doesn’t consider this deal a game changer. “AT&amp;T moving into the security market—that certainly was a game changer. This is a continuation [of that],” he said.</p>
<p>However, Collins cautioned that for small security companies “in areas heavily served by satellite TV, you now have the potential to see smart home and security services competition to that customer base.”</p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="AT&amp;T to buy DIRECTV for $48.5b" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Mon, 19 May 2014 16:52:52 +0000Tess Nacelewicz17485 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/att-buy-directv-485b#commentsGlobal home automation market poised to expand dramaticallyhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/global-home-automation-market-poised-expand-dramatically
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<div class="field-item even">The market could reach $14 billion by 2018, according to an ABI Research report</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2014-03-26T00:00:00-04:00">03/26/2014</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Leif Kothe</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>WELLINGBOROUGH, England—The global home automation market is trending toward significant growth in the coming years, with the $9 billion market projected to reach $14 billion by 2018, according to a report from ABI Research, a technology market intelligence firm with locations around the world.</p>
<p>The North American market, fertile already, will remain robust during the forecast period, rising from $5 billion to $7 billion. North America currently holds 64 percent of the market, but its share is expected to be closer to 50 percent by 2018, the report noted.</p>
<p>Growth is being fueled by a constellation of factors, including a recovering economy and new entrants to the market, according to Adarsh Krishnan, a senior analyst at ABI Research who authored the report. He said some of the barriers that once limited the market’s growth, such as a lagging economy and higher costs, are being stripped away.</p>
<p>“There’s more consumer spending, and there are some different players in the market,” he said. “The entry of the telecoms and cable companies provided another big push for the market.”</p>
<p>The integration of security systems with home automation systems is also promoting wider consumer adoption, Krishnan said, noting that technological improvements in general continue to make the market more palatable to consumers and providers alike. The steady improvement of wireless chip sets, in conjunction with their decreasing costs, has also been a key factor in driving adoption. Krishnan added that the DIY startup market, often on the strength of crowdfunding efforts, has given the home automation market additional momentum as well.</p>
<p>The home automation technologies expected to enjoy pronounced growth during the forecast period include contact sensors, motion sensors, wireless sensors, keypads and control panels.<br />Some of the functionalities being added onto the existing residential security space will also make substantial gains. “We’re expecting to see the most growth in door locks, indoor smart plug and thermostats,” Krishan said. “These are the three home automation devices we see growing the most in the forecast period.”</p>
<p>Both globally and in North America, the market has gained a lot of traction, and Krishnan said there are very few factors that could potentially impede the lofty projections. “I don’t see a lot of issues,” he said, though he noted that privacy concerns could be a limiting factor.</p>
<p>The market could improve by fostering a more collaborative environment, which could unravel some of the complexities involved with integrating disparate wireless technologies, Krishnan said. Because certain wireless technologies are stronger in some applications than others, it can be difficult, he said, for consumers to determine which wireless radios to use.</p>
<p>“In terms of wireless radios there is little clarity about which is best suited to home automation,” he said. Greater clarity on this matter, he said, would broaden consumer adoption by “making it simpler for consumers to choose a particular technology or device without worrying about integration or interoperability with available devices within the market.”</p>
<p>That, coupled with lower costs for hub devices, will help ensure that the projections for the market are realized, Krishnan said.</p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="Global home automation market poised to expand dramatically" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Wed, 26 Mar 2014 19:04:25 +0000Leif Kothe17355 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/global-home-automation-market-poised-expand-dramatically#commentsImperial Capital: Growth in smart home market will benefit large security companies, but not smaller oneshttp://securitysystemsnews.com/blog/imperial-capital-growth-smart-home-market-will-benefit-large-security-companies-not-smaller
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:author dc:creator">Tess Nacelewicz</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:created"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:created" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2014-03-25T00:00:00-04:00">03/25/2014</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>I recently wrote about a new ABI Research report that predicts professional security companies’ share of the smart home market will be <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/security-industry-share-smart-home-market-be-cut-half-2019-report-says" target="_blank">cut in half</a> by 2019 as telecom and cableco competitors leverage their own strengths in the space.</p>
<p>However, not all security companies will fare the same, according to a new report from Imperial Capital, a New York City full-service investment bank. Imperial Capital says that large security companies will do much better than smaller ones as the smart home market grows.</p>
<p>Imperial Capital’s latest prediction on the market for the next six to seven years was released today. It differs from the ABI report in that it drills down more on how size matters.</p>
<p>Simply put, what Imperial Capital predicts is that the top 30 residential security companies will do well over that time period, whereas “the bottom 80 percent of security providers” will see negative growth.</p>
<p>The report, authored by Jeff Kessler, Imperial Capital’s managing director of institutional research, says that Imperial Capital’s and ABI’s views on the market are “generally consistent.” However, Kessler writes, “our biggest difference with the ABI report may be that it does not separate out the top 30 security companies from the rest of the industry, which may very well have customer generation problems.”</p>
<p>Those big companies will do well, Imperial Capital says in its report.</p>
<p>“Our estimates are that the market for home services will grow about 10 percent annually over the next seven years to over 50 million homes, driven by new applications form the security industry, new home services offerings, and marketing from cable and telcos,” the report says. “We estimate the top 30 residential security companies will grow subscribers at about 5 percent annually, from about 11 million current users to about 16-17 million users, driven mainly by life-safety focused subscribers to whom professional response and service and the certainty of police, fire, and personal emergency response is more important than price and bundling convenience.”</p>
<p>However, the report says, “this is offset in our analysis by all other smaller security companies falling from 12 million to 5 or 6 million by 2020.”</p>
<p>When you add those companies—which Imperial Capital says comprise 80 percent of security providers—to the top providers, “we see the security industry as flat to down in this period. In fact, because of this estimated decline in the revenues of small companies, our aggregate estimate of market share is actually more conservative [in] stance than the ABI Study.”</p>
<p>Imperial Capital also believes the smart home market will grow even more than ABI predicts.</p>
<p>“Where we also diverge with the ABI report is in the size of the market six to seven years from now,” the Imperial Capital report says. “ABI estimates a market in six years that is 37 percent larger, and Imperial Capital estimates that it will almost double in six years. The difference, we contend, is new services and technologies from the likes of Alarm.com, Vivint, and iControl … [and also more] “PERS” (personal emergency response systems) home health care and emergency response users. These advanced PERS applications are also being developed.”</p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="Imperial Capital: Growth in smart home market will benefit large security companies, but not smaller ones" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Tue, 25 Mar 2014 17:30:23 +0000Tess Nacelewicz17344 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/blog/imperial-capital-growth-smart-home-market-will-benefit-large-security-companies-not-smaller#commentsSecurity industry share of smart home market to be cut in half by 2019, report sayshttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/security-industry-share-smart-home-market-be-cut-half-2019-report-says
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<div class="field-item even"> Early mover advantage that security companies now have will give way as telecoms, cablecos gain more market share, ABI Research says</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2014-03-19T00:00:00-04:00">03/19/2014</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Tess Nacelewicz</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>NEW YORK—Monitored security companies will stay at the top of the U.S. managed smart home market for the next five years, but their market share will drop more than 50 percent by 2019 as competitors such as telecoms and cablecos leverage their own strengths in the space, predicts a new report from ABI Research.</p>
<p>Smart home adoption in the U.S. is poised to grow 37 percent between 2013 and 2019, according to ABI, a technology market intelligence company based here.</p>
<p>Jonathan Collins, ABI principal analyst, told <em>Security Systems News</em> that all players are expected to see growth in that rapidly expanding market over the next five years. However, he said, “what we see is a far more evenly distributed share of that much larger market towards the end of that forecast period.”</p>
<p>The report, titled “Home Automation Subscription Pricing Models,” examined the offers, assets and competitive positioning of the cablecos and telecoms, retailers and monitored security players in the nation’s managed smart home market.</p>
<p>Collins declined to share specific numbers in <a href="https://www.abiresearch.com/research/service/home-automation-and-smart-buildings/" target="_blank">the report</a>, which is available from ABI.</p>
<p>However, he said professional security companies’ current share of the market is “north of 50 percent.” That market share is expected to be halved in five years, he said.</p>
<p>“There are certain aspects around bundling of smart home services with monitored security that limits the growth rate of security players … a bit more over the next few years than it will other players,” Collins told SSN.</p>
<p>He explained in a March 18 ABI news release: “The potential for each vendor in the managed smart home market stems not just from their current offerings but also from their ability to introduce smart home services to new and existing customers. Monitored security has long seen its market penetration stymied and the ability of smart home applications to widen its appeal is uncertain at best.”</p>
<p>Professional security companies have had an “early mover advantage” in the smart home market, according to the news release, but that advantage “cannot match some competitor’s core competencies which are better suited to selling smart home products and services.”</p>
<p>Why are telecoms and cablecos “better suited” for that task?</p>
<p>“A number of reasons are detailed in the report,” Collins told SSN. “One key area would be the ability to package smart home services along with existing services” to the very large number of customers such communications companies have.</p>
<p>He continued, “While security players can absolutely leverage their customer relationships, they’re not addressing that installed base that some of these rivals have. They don’t have an installed base like a telecom.”</p>
<p>The report concludes that security companies “will increasingly face the choice between continuing to bundle smart home service with monitored security or creating separate, entry-level smart home offerings.”</p>
<p>It notes that various service models are being tested by the vendors within the market, in addition to the bundled service model.</p>
<p>For example, as SSN reported last summer, Comcast Cable has a new offering called <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/comcast-s-new-offering-home-control-minus-security" target="_blank">Xfinity Home Control</a>, for customers who don’t want a security system but do want home management features.</p>
<p>And, Collins said, “If you look at companies like Vivint, for example, they’re very keen to not just be seen as monitored security player. They see the importance of this smart home monitoring and the potential to drive a range of services.”</p>
<p>Collins noted that Vivint, which bills itself as one of the largest home automation companies in North America, still requires “that monitored security piece alongside their smart home offerings.” But he said that in coming years there will be “this pressure [on security companies] to separate the two.”</p>
<p>Other features that players in the smart home market are trying and testing are varying service cost, functionality, support and contract length, according to ABI.</p>
<p>Such offerings will challenge security companies’ traditional offerings, the report noted.</p>
<p>John Loud, owner and president of Kennesaw, Ga.-based Loud Security, after reading the news release on the ABI report, told SSN: “It’s interesting, but it leaves me with many questions.”</p>
<p>Loud, who is the immediate past president of the Georgia Electronic Life Safety &amp; Systems Association, said his company has felt little impact thus far from telecoms and cablecos as competitors, even with AT&amp;T in his backyard in Atlanta. AT&amp;T launched Digital Life, its professionally installed and monitored home security home automation offering, in Atlanta in 2012 and has located one of its two central stations there.</p>
<p>Loud calculates he’s lost minimal customers to such companies. In fact, he believes the big players, with their home automation ads, have helped him.</p>
<p>“I can guarantee you we are doing a whole lot more interactive services and offerings at a higher RMR rate than I was doing two years ago, and I clearly have to thank the Comcasts and the AT&amp;Ts and ADT with Pulse” for that, he said.</p>
<p>Still, Loud says he has some concerns about the competition the telecoms and cablecos may pose in the future. “I think when you really come down to them being in this space, it’s got to come down to them reducing attrition in their subscriber base,” he said. With millions of subscribers, he said, even a 1 percent reduction “becomes a massive number.”</p>
<p>And if those companies offer security and home automation—which has proved to enhance customer stickiness—to bundled customers for a very low price to reduce attrition by keeping them sticky, that “certainly becomes more concerning … for the traditional alarm dealer to face,” Loud said.</p>
<p>However, he said, smaller security companies still retain the advantage of being the local provider of choice. “My thought is it’s local, local, local,” Loud said.</p>
<p>—Leif Kothe contributed to this report</p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="Security industry share of smart home market to be cut in half by 2019, report says" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Wed, 19 Mar 2014 18:18:46 +0000Leif Kothe17336 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/security-industry-share-smart-home-market-be-cut-half-2019-report-says#commentsCraig Foster joins ABI Research M2M and home automation teamhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/craig-foster-joins-abi-research-m2m-and-home-automation-team
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2011-07-05T11:59:21-04:00">07/05/2011</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"><p>NEW YORK—ABI Research on June 30 announced that Craig Foster, an authority on M2M (machine-to-machine communications) and home automation markets, has joined the company as senior analyst, Home Automation Systems.</p>
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Foster is based at the firm’s Irthlingborough office in the UK.</p>
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Prior to joining ABI Research, Foster worked as a market analyst for IMS Research in the UK, developing reports on the power transmission and low voltage products markets, before taking responsibility for the company’s nascent aerospace research group.</p>
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<span property="dc:title" content="Craig Foster joins ABI Research M2M and home automation team" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:59:21 +0000legacy_editor14774 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/craig-foster-joins-abi-research-m2m-and-home-automation-team#commentsVivint's home automation move timelyhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/vivints-home-automation-move-timely
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<div class="field-item even">Research firm says services are going mainstream</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2011-02-03T11:16:09-05:00">02/03/2011</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Tess Nacelewicz</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"><p>SCOTTDALE, Ariz.—Vivint’s recent announcement that it is moving into the home automation market coincided with a new ABI Research report that says there’s a big opportunity now for home automation to go mainstream.</p>
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“The service provider model is really what is going to be necessary to have home automation become a mainstream market phenomenon,” ABI practice director Sam Lucero told <em>Security Systems News</em>.</p>
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APX Alarm, a Utah-based summer-model giant, <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/apx-changes-name-vivint" target="_blank">announced on Feb. 1 a rebrand to Vivint</a> to better reflect the company’s addition of home automation to its security offerings.</p>
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“Simple, affordable whole-home automation for the average Joe,” is how the company describes its offering.</p>
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Vivint’s announcement came just as ABI released a new report Jan. 31 on how managed home automation services are transforming home security.</p>
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The report says home automation systems have traditionally fallen into two categories: “the economical do-it-yourself model, and the expensive custom-designed installation.” Because the first requires a homeowner to have technical expertise and the second alternative is expensive, that limits the market, the report says.</p>
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But now there’s another way to deliver such services, according to the report and Lucero, who works out of the New York-based ABI’s Arizona office.</p>
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“Managed home automation services provided by a telco or cableco or a traditional security alarm monitoring company, this is the newest segment,” he told SSN. “This is where the provider has a relationship with the subscriber already and is layering on some form of home monitoring, some form of home automation service on top of that.”</p>
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However, he said there will be competition in the home automation market between telcos and the security companies.</p>
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“There’s going to be somewhat of a battleground between the traditional security alarm vendors on the one hand—ADT, now Vivint and other security companies that want to bend what they do into home control, home automation, home energy management—and Verizon Wireless and Comcast and others … who are coming from a different direction,” Lucero said.</p>
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Among a number of newer interactive home security products, ADT introduced its Pulse product last fall, and Honeywell has a Total Connect product.</p>
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In January, Verizon Wireless <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/verizon-debuts-home-security-offering-ces" target="_blank">launched its new home automation bundle</a> offering at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Also, according to ABI, Comcast currently is conducting a trial of a home automation offering in the Houston area.</p>
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The report says “home automation as a managed service provided by the homeowner’s cable broadband provider or telco” is something that “promises to fuel tremendous market growth.” </p>
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Verizon has said it intends to offer a do-it-yourself solution, although it said it would partner where appropriate.</p>
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Vivint contends its home automation offering is unique in that it won’t cost homeowners much upfront and the company will service and maintain the systems for customers. </p>
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<span property="dc:title" content="Vivint&#039;s home automation move timely" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Thu, 03 Feb 2011 16:16:09 +0000legacy_editor14366 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/vivints-home-automation-move-timely#comments